Unforeseen Aid
A voice rang out from the instructor, Shin Ji-yeon, sounding urgent and panicked.
The members of Team 2, one after another, fell into confusion and panic.
Compared to the more stable Team 1, whose leader had been captured, their appearance was markedly different.
“W-what does this mean!?”
“R-ruddenly?”
“A trap?”
“W-what do we do?”
On the other hand, as Ji Yu-chan listened to the report, he tried to respond calmly.
However, he could not help but feel tense.
If he thought rationally just a little more, he might have realized something was off.
But because he had to trust and follow the instructor, Ji Yu-chan had no choice but to be deceived.
What should he do in this situation?
Ji Yu-chan, who had been thinking for a long time, spoke up and said, “I think it would be best for me to go ahead.”
At those words, the other members of Team 2 agreed that it would be good, and they looked at Park Dong-wook.
Honestly, Ji Yu-chan was polite, while Park Dong-wook was aggressive and a bit overbearing.
So the members had no choice but to watch Park Dong-wook’s face.
As everyone was sizing him up, Park Dong-wook stepped forward and said, “Let me have Yu-chan brother go ahead, and I’ll provide rear guard.”
“Good.”
Since Park Dong-wook agreed, Ji Yu-chan and the others could not help but cheer inwardly.
Now it was time to think about safety, and luckily Park Dong-wook had given in.
When the members thought they could finally feel a little at ease, although Park Dong-wook had agreed, his expression was sinking.
He thought he had become the leader, but seeing it taken away again, he was inwardly fuming.
‘……I still can’t go ahead.’
The image of two goblins digging into the ground and striking with daggers came to mind, and he was scared.
So Park Dong-wook had no choice but to retreat.
After Ji Yu-chan took the lead, it had to go smoothly.
The trap was discovered in time, and Kim Yun-jeong, who had listened earnestly to the briefing about traps, immediately started dismantling it.
With two people dismantling the trap, it was handled quickly, and they were nearing the exit mentioned in the briefing.
At that moment, Ji Yu-chan heard a strange presence and stopped the team.
“Kerk, kerk.”
“Kekek!”
“Kerk.”
Hearing the goblin voices from afar, Ji Yu-chan turned back and quietly explained the strategy.
“I don’t know how many there are, but I’ll go first and take out one. I’ll take another one. Dong-wook hyung, you take one, and the rest of us will handle the other goblins. When I join up, it shouldn’t matter how many there are.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“We can do that.”
As the other members nodded quietly in agreement, Park Dong-wook flinched at the mention of goblin voices and hesitantly nodded to Ji Yu-chan’s words.
Seeing that, Ji Yu-chan looked at Park Dong-wook with a puzzled face.
“Dong-wook hyung?”
“……I got it.”
Normally Ji Yu-chan said “Yu-chan brother,” but Park Dong-wook just said “I got it.” It was odd, but thinking it was because he was nervous, Ji Yu-chan let it go.
Thus, Ji Yu-chan took up a combat stance, confirmed the others once more, and gave the signal before charging ahead.
Tadadada.
Compared to Do-hyun, it was a slow speed, but it was still the fastest movement among the members of Team 2.
Suddenly appearing like that, the goblins were startled.
There were five in total. But since they were sitting separately, there was distance, so Ji Yu-chan had no choice but to target just one.
Ji Yu-chan drew his sword and swung it, instantly slicing through the goblin’s fragile neck and sending its head flying.
Plop.
Pishuuu.
Blood sprayed out in the battlefield where it seemed the surroundings turned red like a blood fog. Ji Yu-chan thought while handling one goblin.
‘There are three left.’
Up to this point, it had been according to Ji Yu-chan’s strategy.
Now, with Park Dong-wook handling one and the three handling two goblins, Ji Yu-chan could quickly finish the one he was handling and join up.
That would be a perfect situation.
So Ji Yu-chan called out to Dong-wook.
“Dong-wook hyung!”
At this moment, Dong-wook had to handle one goblin so the situation behind could develop.
However, Park Dong-wook reacted a beat late to Ji Yu-chan’s words and shouted loudly, “U, uaaaa!”
Shouting as he charged, Park Dong-wook’s hand trembled.
He closed his eyes, not having the courage to look at the goblin face to face, and charged blindly.
Then Park Dong-wook wildly swung his iron cudgel.
“D, Dong-wook hyung?!”
“W-what are you doing?!”
“Kyaaaa!”
Because he was swinging with his eyes closed, the iron cudgel headed toward Ji Yu-chan’s back, who was handling a goblin in the narrow passage.
Kaang!
The iron cudgel struck Ji Yu-chan’s back exactly, making a heavy sound and sending him flying. The place where he was sent happened to be right in the center of the goblins.
“Kuk!”
Although his armor blocked it, he received the shock of his lung being crushed the moment he was hit in the back.
Not only that, as he was pushed back into the center of the goblins, surrounded by them, his posture became disordered, making it impossible to block even the goblins’ attacks.
A sudden opportunity!
The goblins could not miss this chance, so even the goblin that had been running toward Park Dong-wook charged at Ji Yu-chan with a dagger drawn.
Seeing that, the other members were already in panic due to the instructor’s urgent broadcast and could not move.
“Kyaaaa!”
“H, how can we do something!”
“W, what should we do!?”
Even at this point, if Park Dong-wook had come to his senses, it might have been okay.
But Park Dong-wook, who had thrown Ji Yu-chan with the iron cudgel, saw Ji Yu-chan surrounded by goblins and remembered the goblins that had run at him earlier.
He sat down on the floor, muttering incoherently.
“U, uweo.”
In the total crisis, Ji Yu-chan did not give up hope and held his sword, swinging it as the Sword King’s Intuition told him.
His rigid swordsmanship pointed around and cut off one goblin’s neck while blocking the attack of the goblin in front.
Then he turned his body and successfully blocked and pushed away the attack of the third goblin.
However, since he still lacked qualification, the Sword King’s Intuition could only partially activate like Do-hyun’s, and the result was that.
Puuwuk!
“Kekekke.”
He had no choice but to accept the last goblin’s attack, which came in aiming for the gaps in the armor.
Even seeing blood gush out from the bad wound, Ji Yu-chan could not scream.
As he moved, the wound area felt hot as if it had been set on fire, but if he did not move, he would die.
So he swung the sword toward the goblin that had stabbed him, but perhaps because of the dagger wound, the speed and power were not the same as before.
Huuung!
When the goblin quickly retreated, the sword missed and could not hit the goblin.
“Kekeke!”
“Kekekke!”
“Kehehek!”
There were three goblins left. And Ji Yu-chan was reaching his limit.
If he could swing his sword like before, it would be good, but since his side was pulled, he could not even swing his sword properly.
The members should have helped, but seeing Park Dong-wook muttering incoherently and the other members unable to move, Ji Yu-chan found it absurd and let out a dry laugh.
“Hah.”
He thought it would have been better if they had been Team 1, and just then, something flew quickly from the end of the corridor and pierced the back of a goblin’s head.
Puk—
A sharp and accurate dagger was embedded.
Ji Yu-chan looked at it and wondered where it had come from, so he looked up, and saw Do-hyun running swiftly like a shadow.
And before the goblin with the dagger in it fell, Do-hyun pulled out the dagger from the goblin’s head, then swung it toward the other two goblins who had noticed their comrade was in trouble.
Blue light painted the air and moved like a crescent moon, and the heads of the two goblins fell to the floor.
It was an overwhelming sight, so Ji Yu-chan forgot about his side being stabbed by the dagger and stared blankly.
They had entered at the same time, but the difference was so great that Ji Yu-chan suddenly looked at Do-hyun and said, “How…?”
Ji Yu-chan’s question-filled words received a somewhat odd answer from Do-hyun.
“I thought I heard screaming, so I came.”
Hearing the even, steady breathing and voice of someone who could not have thought it possible to kill three goblins in an instant, Ji Yu-chan shook his head, thinking it was truly impossible to deal with.
He really is amazing.
Do-hyun helped Ji Yu-chan, who was sitting down because of the wound, and Ji Yu-chan willingly accepted the help.
Then Ji Yu-chan looked at Do-hyun with curiosity.
What about the exam? Why come to save the other team after coming this far?
Honestly, he could not understand. Because it was an emergency situation, to help? It was not like he had ever been kind to them, so it was hard to believe that Do-hyun had come to save them.
Ji Yu-chan asked Do-hyun, “What about the exam? Did you come to help us first?”
Did he give up on his own exam and come out of curiosity?
Ji Yu-chan was inwardly admiring how sublime that person was, when Do-hyun answered as if it was a strange question, “Huh? I passed the exam and came back to save you.”
“……?”
Ji Yu-chan stared at Do-hyun with a dumbfounded expression, like someone who had heard an absurd story.
He could not even imagine such an answer.
On the other hand, Do-hyun was.
‘Why is he like this?’
He was wondering why Ji Yu-chan’s expression had suddenly changed.